Bibu Subedi
Mrs.
L. Schlabach
History
21
Sep 2013
Navajo Indian Tribe
The Navajo also call themselves “Dine," which means “The People” in Navajo. Their ancestors lived in northwestern
Canada and Alaska, and they “moved south and reached the southern United States”
(The Four Corners) The Navajo Indians who settled in
southern Arizona and New Mexico then became the different Apache tribes. The
Pueblo Indians who were there before the Navajos arrived influenced the Navajos.
The Pueblo Indians believe that the Navajo have stolen their methods of
agriculture. The name Navajo means “Thieves” or Takers of the fields,” a name
the Pueblos gave them. “The Navajo are closely related to the Apache , and the
Navajo language, along with other Apache languages, make up…the Athabaskan language.
In 1864, the U.S Army forced the Navajo to move to Basque Redondo, an experimental reservation. It was a 400 mile walk and thousands died along the way and during the four years at Basque Redondo and the walk home in 1868. In Navajo history it was known as “The Long Walk". This U.S experiment didn’t work out to move to the Basque so the treaty of 1868 was signed for “giving them their own territory and freedom”.
The
Long Walk 1865
The Navajos didn’t know how to farm
when they moved southwest. They knew how to hunt but later learned farming from
the Pueblo. After about a year, the Navajos became good at both farming (corn,
squash, and beans) and hunting. They traded with Spaniards for horses and
sheep, from which they learn to weave clothes and blankets. The Navajos also
did skilled art, made jewelry, painted pottery and more. The Navajos lived in two
different Hogans, one for winter and another for summer. The summer Hogan was
half opened and the winter Hogan was covered with mud, wooden poles and tree
barks. Navajo men were more of political leaders, warriors and hunters. The women
planted, prepared food, and took care of their children. Both were important to
the family. “Their Hogan was made to face the east for sunlight” a tribute to their god.
They worshiped sun, wind, and watercourses. “The Navajos base their way of life on a belief that the
physical and spiritual world blend together, and everything on earth is alive
and their relative”.
Navajo weaving, 1915, photo by Navajo
Indians Winter Hogan
William J. Carpenter.
The Navajo tribe is now one of the
largest reservations in the United States. The “Navajo Nation reservation covers
about 27,000 square miles of land, occupying all of northeastern Arizona, and
extending into Utah and New Mexico, and has the…largest land… assigned… to a
native American Jurisdiction within the United States”. “They established law enforcement as the responsibility of the Federal
Government and was administered by the Branch of Law and Order. The Navajo were not
only responsible for Law enforcement but they were also responsible for the
care and custody of prisoners”.
Many speak English because it is so hard
to learn the Navajo language. The code talkers used the Navajo language as a
radio code during World War II, which was vital in winning the war.
Cited Page
Google>Navajo
people of plain-http://www.kidport.com/reflib/socialstudies/nativeamericans/Navajo.htm#Navajo
Google>Navajo
tribe-
Google
image> four corners
http://www.ancestral.com/cultures/north_america/navajo.html
Google>the
long walk-
